


Spice Things Up

by thewildtype



Category: Killing Eve (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:27:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27093538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewildtype/pseuds/thewildtype
Summary: Tumblr prompt requested by anonymous – Villaneve Coffee Shop AULife is pretty boring for the newly trained barista Eve Polastri until a blonde-haired beauty brings some spice into her life.
Relationships: Eve Polastri/Villanelle | Oksana Astankova
Comments: 12
Kudos: 70





	Spice Things Up

Basic barista training in a nutshell: Grind, steep, froth, pour, repeat.

Eve knew becoming a barista wouldn’t be too challenging. After all, she was a well learned woman but a master’s degree in criminal psychology meant squat in an economic depression and well bills needed to be paid which left Eve with a mandated opportunity to find a new career path. Seeing as coffee was something that kept her alive on a regular basis, she felt making coffee for others was a way to keep people in high spirits despite the daily gloom of the every day grind. That and the corner coffee shop two blocks from her apartment was hiring and she was a desperate woman a few overdue bills away from crippling debt. 

What she did not anticipate was how monotonous this new job would be. There would be no mysteries, no puzzles to solve, no battles to fight, and no justice to serve. Instead, day in and day out it was grind, steep, froth, pour, repeat.

The routine wasn’t too bad when Eve was working weekend shifts. Then she could spend the remainder of her week forgetting her roast house Saturdays and Sundays. Unfortunately, these were desperate times which meant Eve had to beg and plead for more hours. Luckily, there was a new opening for a morning shift barista on Monday through Friday. A full forty-hour work week was in store for her which meant she would be able to make rent. The cost, dwindling critical thinking skills lost to mind numbing boredom.

Eve arrived right on time for her morning shift at the start of the week. She donned her apron, adjusted her visor, and gave herself a mental pep talking while prepping the register. Her manager that morning was Geraldine, an overtly chipper employee that was the physical embodiment of the “ _the customer is always right’_ corporate motto.

“Happy Monday, Eve! Today is going to be a wonderful day.” The young woman said with a sugary smile. It took every bit of will power for Eve to not roll her eyes. Instead she simply nodded yes and braced herself behind the till for the onslaught of groggy patrons she spotted lined up outside the front door.

It was a marathon morning. Eve lost count of how many coffees, teas, and pastries she sold within the first two hours of opening. It became so overwhelming at one-point Geraldine had to take over the register while Eve, the “brew master” as Geraldine referred to her, was frantically crafting beverages and toasting pastries as Geraldine barked out the orders over her shoulder.

Eve's sharpie pen just gave up at one point. She’d have more sympathy for the thing if its sudden collapse didn’t just put her behind in her orders. Fortunately, she spotted a red pen on the counter adjacent to the register. She snatched it dashing towards the takeaway cups. She scribbled furiously as Geraldine barked out orders.

"Large chai tea, latte, triple shot, 3 pumps mocha, soymilk, lite water, no foam, extra hot."

Eve grimaced at the absurdity of this order, but she was a pro. Besides they didn’t pay her minimum wage to judge. She did that for free. When she was finished creating the odd concoction, she headed over to the pick-up counter.

“Large chai tea-” Eve began but was promptly cut off by the owner of the beverage.

“Mine.”

The young woman was exactly the type of person she would expect to order an obnoxious beverage. She had honey blonde hair pulled back into a bun at the nape of her neck, a flowing pink toll dress, and incredibly stylish black boots Eve had to assume cost more than an entire year’s worth of rent. The woman carried herself with an air of superiority that made Eve think she had enough money to afford that attitude. Her gaze was intense, as if she could see right through Eve. Her crooked smile made Eve’s insides burn as if the woman were reading her thoughts.

Eve extended the beverage out for the younger woman to take, which she did. She never took her eyes off of Eve. It made her squirm.

“Umm, ok well enjoy!” Eve uttered.

“I always do.” The woman took a waft of the beverage her face twitching a little. “Are you new here? I’ve never seen you before.” The woman asked, removing the lid of her take away container to inspect her drink.

“Um well, I’m new to the weekday shifts but not new to this place.”

“Hmm,” the woman began while furrowing her brows slightly, placing the lid back on top of the container, “What’s your name?”

Eve looked down at her apron, pushing her locks of curly hair away from her name badge.

The blonde smiled. “Well Eve, it is nice to meet you. I come in most days so I guess we will be seeing more of each other.”

“I guess so.” Eve said

The woman smiled with a lopsided grin, pivoting on her heel and sashing out of the café.

As soon as she exited, Geraldine rushed to Eve’s side. “Is everything ok?”

“I think so.” Eve said, not entirely sure what prompted the flirtatious conversing, latte inspecting, and lingering stares from the blonde woman. Not that Eve minded the extra attention.

“Phew,” Geraldine exhaled with relief, “That’s Villanelle. She is a regular here. Overpays, but because of that she expects perfection on the regular. It’s wise to give her exactly what she wants and stay on her good side. It’s fairly easy once you get it down. She orders the same thing every day dropping in at the exact same time. It’s best to just have it ready for her when she comes it.”

“I will keep that in mind for tomorrow.” Eve replied. She jotted down the princess’s order on a nearby napkin and the approximate time the woman arrived today. She shoved the napkin in her pocket determined to get it right for the rest of the week.

Just like clockwork. Tuesday at 9:30 am, Villanelle arrived at the café. Villanelle sauntered to the counter with a cocky grin. “Good morning, Eve. I’d like to order a large chai-”

Eve smiled triumphantly. She already prepared her order from the prior day: one large chai tea, latte, triple shot, 3 pumps mocha, soymilk, lite water, no foam, extra hot. She extended the takeaway mug to Villanelle.

“I already have it ready to go. Same drink as yesterday.” Eve said effectively cutting off the younger woman.

Villanelle quirked an eyebrow releasing a little laugh. “You remembered every detail of the drink you made me yesterday? That’s impressive.” She said, holding out her platinum credit card. Eve grabbed it and then proceeded to process her order. She felt a tinge of annoyance at Villanelle’s comment.

“Just because I dress like a servant and not like a high-profile attorney,” She said in reference to Villanelle’s navy pants suit, “doesn’t mean I’m incapable of remembering complex information.” Eve huffed, handing the card back to Villanelle who quickly stashed it away in her overpriced designer clutch.

“My mistake,” Villanelle said, “I won’t doubt your mental fortitude again.” She turned to leave but paused in her tracks. Eve felt her body tense up; fearful she has lost the café a regular customer with her childish outburst.

“You look cute in the apron by the way.” Villanelle said flashing a sincere smile, eyes raking down Eve’s body as if to make her point. “See you tomorrow, Eve.”

Eve felt a shiver run down her spine. Her heart pounding her in her chest for reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with fear and everything to do with Villanelle’s words and actions. For the rest of the day, Eve was in a daze. Replaying her interaction with Villanelle in her head on repeat trying to decipher every detail for meaning. At the end of the day she could only come up with two possible explanations: 1. Villanelle was flirting with her or 2. Villanelle was playing a game which involved flattering Eve, later taking her hostage, and murdering her for fun.

She left work that evening determined to prove the first possibility was the correct one.

Eve utilized the remainder of the week to conduct her experiment.

On Wednesday, she decided to dress up a bit, wear a little make up, and ditch the visor opting to wear her hair down in all its wild glory. The result was Villanelle lingering in the coffee shop a full 5 minutes longer than usual. Encouraged, on Thursday, Eve ran her fingers through her hair while talking to Villanelle which resulted in even more intense staring, some verbal stammering, and Villanelle almost tripping over her own two feet while leaving the establishment. On Friday, Eve decided to take things a step further. While handing over Villanelle’s credit card and regular drink, Eve purposefully brushed their fingers together causing the younger woman to become even more flustered and visibly blush. Eve was pretty sure she was blushing as well at the contact. Confirming to both parties that this attraction was in fact mutual.

Over the weekend, Eve decided her next move was to confront Villanelle about this. Maybe over drinks at a pub. She spent the entire two days daydreaming about asking Villanelle out, about running her fingers across her smooth skin, kissing her red lips, ripping off her designer clothes, and many, many more non-PG related thoughts resulting in multiple cold showers to cool herself off.

Monday finally arrived. Eve found herself arriving to work 10 minutes early, prepping the shop, eagerly awaiting her favorite time of the day. She had almost forgotten how insanely busy Mondays were. Eve and Geraldine defaulted to their stations: Geraldine at the counter and Eve playing barista as they knocked out the hectic queue of customers. The morning just flew by so quickly Eve lost track of time. She was in barista mode: Roast, grind, steep, froth, pour, repeat.

Geraldine shouted the latest order: “Large chai tea to go.”

Easy Eve thought as she steeped tea, added spices, and poured the finished product into a to-go container. She called out the order to the throng of customers. As she scanned the crowd for the recipient, she noticed the clock above the doors stated the time was 9:30 am.

“That would be mine.” Said Villanelle, who was standing at the front of the queue.

Eve’s heart fluttered in her chest when she locked eyes with the woman who had been captivating her every thought over the past week. She grinned like a smitten teenager, handing the simple beverage over to Villanelle.

“Decided to spice things up today with a different drink?” Eve asked trying to work up the nerve to ask out the stunning woman who was _definitely_ out of her league. She could feel her palms sweating.

Villanelle chuckled and shook her head from side to side. “Not really. This is the drink I always get. Before you came along, that is.”

Eve was puzzled. “What do you mean?”

Villanelle smiled, “I mean that you have been making me a very strange variation of chai tea all week that I didn’t ask for.”

Eve felting a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She was acting like an absolute fool all week, failing miserably to impress this woman who was clearly taking pity on her. She squinted her eyes shut in complete embarrassment. She opened them again when she felt a warm hand cup her own. She looked up to see Villanelle smiling from ear to ear.

“I probably should have corrected you sooner, but you seemed very proud every time you would make the order. It was adorable,” The younger woman rubbed circles on the back of Eve’s hands. “Clearly, we got off on the wrong foot here. Would you like to have dinner with me tonight? We can clear the air and learn more about each other than just our favorite morning drinks. What do you say?”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Eve blurted out, “Yes, I’d love to, yes!”

Villanelle dropped Eve’s hand backing away from the counter. “All right then. It’s a date.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was a fun one to write. I hope you all enjoyed it! As an aside, baristas are all incredible human beings and I have mad respect for all of you! Eve however is a snob.
> 
> Comments and kudos make my day <3
> 
> Please feel free to reach out to me on tumblr at Please-Return-To-Villanelle with any ships and prompt requests!


End file.
